Paul Meurisse, un acteur si mystérieux | Archive INA

Subscribe http://bit.ly/Inastars Cinépanorama: Broadcast of August 3, 1963 François Chalais talks with Paul Meurisse (who is smoking) standing in his living room/library. They first discuss his reputation as a mysterious figure, which Paul Meurisse initially rejected and which he ultimately maintains because it preserves his peace of mind. He couldn't have been an exhibitionist anyway, like other actors (whom he doesn't name). His professional memories began long before he began his career, when, around the age of 8 (in the 1920s and 1921s), he went to the cinema to see silent films starring Douglas Fairbanks (senior) and Rudolph Valentino, who were dream characters for him. When he was 16, talking pictures, by making the actors much more real, were a disappointment for him: the myth collapsed, these untouchable characters lost their magic. He was lucky to have the friendship of Erich Von Stroheim, the last in his eyes of the sacred monsters of that era, and his friendship was marked by fear. The new generation of directors (Clouzot, Carné, Autant-Lara) no longer wanted to tremble before them, became directors and extinguished these monsters. Paul MEURISSE then talks about "The Truth" which he shot with Clouzot and his relationship with him (courteous despite their different conceptions). Clouzot said of him that he had not understood his character, but Paul MEURISSE had the support of the critics and the public. In the end, they respected each other. Aesthetically, he criticizes French cinema for having sunk into absolute realism, to the detriment of all poetry (except René Clair). Clouzot criticized him for not acting realistically enough, and he tells an anecdote on this subject to demonstrate that realism is impossible in cinema. The interview ends with his relationship with cinema, which "kicked him out": 11 or 12 years earlier, he had been filming a lot. Loving this easy and pleasant life, he let himself get carried away, sometimes even filming without having read the script. Then cinema completely abandoned him, and he turned to theater, with success (he met Jean Anouilh). Today, cinema is a recreation for him, a reward, and knowing that he no longer needs it, it is cinema that now runs after him. INA archive images National Audiovisual Institute http://www.ina.fr #INA #People #Star